Ruben Amorim has many important decisions to make in the future and possibly one of the most important is whether Bruno Fernandes has a future at Manchester United.
Fernandes is easily their most talented player on the ball. He is on par with anyone else in the Premier League in terms of being able to play that killer ball, but the rest of his game is largely lacking.
From his antics when the game isn't going well to constantly throwing his arms in the air, shrugging his shoulders at his teammates… and wearing the armband.
What example do you give to Kobbie Mainoo, Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho, young players who are making their way in football?
You want your captain, your leader, to be an example for everyone in that locker room, that's why you choose him as your captain because he sets the example.
Having that whole wonderfully creative image in your head and being able to fulfill it, you certainly have it, and I'm sure there isn't a single day in training, watching the small matches, that the coach and his coaching staff are not there. They nudge each other and say “wow” when Fernandes has the ball. But I think he has become a liability for Manchester United.
Bruno Fernandes, despite his role as captain, does not set an example for the Man United players
The Portuguese playmaker received his third red card of the season during his visit to Wolves
Rubén Amorim (right) will have to make a decision about Fernandes' future at United
He has undoubted talent and will think he should play for the best teams, but that is not the case and he is showing a negativity that will be detrimental to those around him, as was the case with the sending off against Wolves.
I don't think he's an unpleasant player, but these actions are born out of frustration. They have already been sent off three times this season and we are in December.
I will never get the image out of my head of how he reacted to losing three goals at Liverpool when Manchester United lost 7-0 at Anfield.
He simply threw in the towel, walking around pointing his finger at his teammates and shrugging his shoulders. For the old timers reading this, I'll quote the Billy Ocean song: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” But not Fernandez.
His actions at Anfield showed me where his mental strength was, nowhere. And that's my point, just having skill isn't enough to be a top player, you need to show mental toughness, discipline and work rate when you're faced with that and that's certainly what United are at the moment.
In a successful locker room, his negative reactions to his teammates' deficiencies would have been resolved from the first week of training. The big players would have been all over him in training, physically and verbally, meaning, 'Shut the fuck up and take some of that.' And by the way, eat some of this!'
I was never part of a team that threw in the towel, I was always lucky to be on teams that had strong character.
When I was named captain at Liverpool, our coach Joe Fagan pulled me aside and said, “don't do anything different, do your own job first, if it goes well, then help those around you.” It was never about pointing the finger at your teammates when things weren't going well.
He has undoubted talent and will think he should play for the best teams.
His actions at Anfield, after losing 7-0, showed me where his mental strength was, nowhere.
As a captain you felt more responsibility when things weren't going well and you tried to put things right, but I was lucky because in my Liverpool teams we had four or five captains who were inspirational figures. Do Manchester United have any of the above in their dressing room right now?
Watching and listening to the new manager talk about “surviving” and observing his body language, you now fully realize the magnitude of the task of getting this giant football club back on track.
Then Newcastle got into form, their biggest rivals Liverpool next and an Arsenal team firing on all cylinders but now playing without their biggest threat in Bukayo Saka. Things won't get any easier any time soon for United.
How did City's fall come about?
I don't remember any big team falling off a cliff like Manchester City did. It's now one win in 13 games.
Anyone interested in our Premier League will wonder how this has happened.
This is not the reaction of great players, players who have dominated the toughest domestic league in the world for the last four years, so what went wrong?
Any big team can lose to anyone, that's the beauty of our league. But City's run of form has left everyone, including their biggest rivals, scratching their heads.
Manchester City have won just one of their last 13 games in all competitions.
Pep Guardiola is struggling to find a solution to his team's problems heading into the new year.
Great players don't lose their technical ability to win games, but what they can lose is the desire and intensity to make hard yards 100 percent of the time and I'm sure Pep pointed this out many games ago during this lousy streak.
Is it just because Rodri is absent or is his mischievous boss Kevin de Bruyne no longer impacting games like he has for the last five or six years in our league? Or is this the worst possible scenario, where some have simply stopped listening to Pep?
The magpies trust Isak
Newcastle United have to fear the worst regarding Alexander Isak if they continue to fall victim to the profit and sustainability rules.
He is a class act and will be a definite target for the Champions League big boys come summer, if not sooner.
The only certain benefit for Newcastle is that they will receive a huge amount of money because on current evidence it has to be said that Isak is pretty close to being the best centre-forward in our league.
He is fast, athletic, gets involved in the preparation of the game, can dribble and shoot. He has scored 24 goals this calendar year, three shy of Alan Shearer's record of 27 at Newcastle.
For a striker who is just approaching his prime and who has scored 42 goals in 68 Premier League games for Newcastle, he will be on the radar of all the greats.
Newcastle have to fear the worst with Alexander Isak if they continue to fall victim to PSR rules
cherries on top
I must mention my hometown team, Bournemouth, for the progress they have made.
They made an extremely brave decision in trading Gary O'Neil for Andoni Iraola last year and there were some problems early on. But they sit sixth in the Premier League table, one point ahead of champions Manchester City, and their tally of 29 points after 18 games is their best return in the top flight at this stage of the campaign.
They are playing a brand of football that is both entertaining, difficult to face and capable of winning games. Its grounds only have capacity for just over 11,000 people and the atmosphere that is created is very impressive. Even when the big guys come to town, they find it difficult. Now everyone in the area is behind them and the manager deserves a lot of credit for galvanizing this talented group of players.